"Things have changed": this is the "first message which seems to have been understood by everyone" one year after the publication of the Pope’s Letter to the Chinese Catholics (30 June 2007). This is highlighted by Fides agency, promoted by the Congregation for the evangelisation of people, in a release which takes stock of the results of the Pope’s Letter to the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China. According to the release, it has been acknowledged that "the situation has dramatically changed, both within the Catholic community and towards the government as well as towards Chinese and internationals society. After the Holy Father’s clear statement that the Church in China is one, and the its internal differences were and are the fruits of external pressures, the Chinese Catholics are rediscovering their brotherhood. The Church in China is one, because most bishops are in communion with the Pope. So, one Church, even if its structure is still, sort of, unusual. There isn’t a perfect and accomplished unity yet, but the direction pointed out by Benedict XVI is clear. Even if a unification cannot happen overnight". (continued)
